


The Village

by Zexsune



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Humor, Lemon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-07 07:51:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11619198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zexsune/pseuds/Zexsune
Summary: Nero returns to the village, harboring a dark secret. (OC)





	1. This Village of Mine

The sun was shining blinding brightly in the sky, indicating high noon over the Land of Fire.

Nero stood on the top of a tall tree surveying the little village below him. The Hidden Leaf Village was named quite well, it took him an annoyingly long time to find it again. Trying to savor his last few minutes alone, he pulled out a cigarette from what seemed to be thin air and lit it with the tip of his finger.

He puffed smoke out of his mouth, deep in his thoughts, not noticing the man climbing up on the tree next to him. He put a hand on Nero's shoulder.

"Fuck!"

Nero nearly fell off his branch in surprise at the sudden appearance of another person, but calmed himself once he realized the identity of said person.

"You nearly killed me!"

The man, Dante, chuckled. "I wish. What are you doing up here? I'm sure death by fall isn't high up on your list."

Nero flicked his cigarette off of the tree, watching it fall to the ground. "Might be after a few days in this village. I wonder if they still love and care for me."

"I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms."

"So, you can't just be here to provide me company. Tell me the bad news."

Nero started down the tree and Dante began to follow. "Nero, do you remember your last encounter with Orochimaru?"

_Orochimaru's head shot out towards Sasuke's neck, Nero went for it, he could stop him. Orochimaru's fangs shot into his neck, biting down into Sasuke's flesh as Nero reached the snake Sannin and slashed his torso in half. Orochimaru bursted into a mess of snakes, slithering into the bushes._

" _Damn it! You can't run forever, snake."_

" _You can't catch me boy. Try your hand at something different."_

"Of course I do. Bastard got away with a shred of his life."

"Well, I've been tracking him ever since. He's got a slew of hideouts, one of which he's got Sasuke and Kabuto holed up in."

Nero pondered this for a minute. The two shinobi hit the ground feet first and looked at each other.

"I don't think we have the time to deal with that now. Good info though."

Dante put his hand on Nero's shoulder. "I don't envy you at all, my friend."

"You will when I get to slaughter every soul in this village."

"No doubt. But while you tend to this heavy enterprise, I'll be trying to fuck every woman in Suna. Good luck."

With a wave of his hand, Dante disappeared in a swirl of black fire.

Nero shook his head as he walked towards the village. "Stole my fucking exit. So it's gonna be like that, I see."

**Konoha**

After talking to the guards at the gate, Nero stepped into the crowded village. It was just as he remembered it. He walked up to a street vendor and ordered some dango.

"Maybe this won't be that bad. It's pretty ni-"

He was interrupted by a boy in orange flying over him. Naruto's fist would have connected with him, had Nero not ducked a second before.

"I spoke too soon."

Sakura was behind them, facepalming at the over enthusiastic Naruto. "Nero! Er, sorry about that. Same old Naruto."

Nero noticed that Sakura looked very different. She looked vibrant and outgoing whereas before she had a shy look to her. Her hair was longer and her face definitely looked more mature. 'Almost pretty.' Nero thought.

"Yeah, same old asshole." Nero reluctantly accepted Sakura's embrace, to her laughter.

Naruto brushed himself off and joined the two. Naruto, on the other hand, looked the same. The main difference was that now, he did look older. Despite this, it was apparent that the shinobi was still the same old kid he was 3 years ago.

"That wasn't anywhere close to my new strength." Naruto said.

"I'd hope not. How are you going to beat me otherwise?" Nero said mockingly.

"How was your trip Nero?" Sakura asked, breaking up something before it started.

"It was… enlightening."

"Who was it with? Some Killer Wasp dude?" Naruto asked.

Nero shook his head. "Killer B. I'd explain but, it's none of your business."

"Hey!" Naruto looked outraged.

"It's true." Sakura said.

"But where'd you go?"

"I went to a castle and killed a couple dragons."

Naruto gasped. "Seriously?"

"No. Fuck off. It's none of your business."

Sakura giggled.

'Wait, did she just laugh at that? Maybe I'm too drunk, but I think she's being nicer to me.' Nero thought.

The three approached Hokage Tower after walking through the village after a couple minutes.

"Grandma!" Naruto yelled as he walked in the room, spotting Tsunade.

Tsunade looked up from her desk. She looked very irritated.

"Naruto… let's not start off on the wrong foot."

"Er. Sorry about that Lady Tsunade." Naruto apologized.

Tsunade shook her head and looked at Nero.

'Fuck, is that? He actually looks like a man… if only I was younger. Wait, what am I thinking about, he's barely a teenager!' Tsunade was struck with conflicting thoughts as she struggled to end her internal argument.

"Nero? Wow, you actually look different, it's good to have you back! You too, Naruto!" Tsunade now smiled.

Nero rubbed his hands through his silver hair. "Yeah, it's good to see you too."

"Well, I actually have an assignment for you guys."

Naruto's eyes brightened. "Really? What are we going to do? Tell me it's an important mission!"

Nero stretched his arms, and brushed his jacket off.

"That seems like a lot of work. After all, I just got back from intense training, I need a break." He said.

Tsunade looked at him, annoyed. "Well, that's not what's gonna happen. You guys need to meet up at training ground 7 in 10 minutes, got it?"

"Such a hassle." Nero sighed.

Tsunade smiled. "If you'd like to complain, I could just put you to sleep right here."

"Sure, I'm down." Nero smirked.

Tsunade, quicker than could be seen, moved past her desk and threw a punch at Nero. Nero, not moving, put his hand out and stopped her hand without a blink.

'What the hell? That punch could have potentially put a hole in the mountain!' Tsunade thought.

"How did you stop it?" Tsunade asked in utter shock.

"I caught it, what kind of question is that? Damn, now I want to fight again. I guess I will take part in this assignment after all."

Nero dissapeared in a flash of black flames.

"Uh, Lady Hokage, are you ok?" Sakura asked the stricken woman.

Tsunade looked, as she had done a lot in this meeting, very annoyed.

Nero stood in the training field alone, drinking from his flask. He leaned against a tree, closing his eyes and taking in the day.

The sun was shining very brightly, but Nero still had his dark jacket on. He almost took it off, but he was struck with a case of laziness.

'Heh, I nailed the exit at least. I hate to brag, but even I thought that was bad ass.'

Sakura and Naruto walked up behind him after a while.

"Nero, how'd you do that, back there with the Hokage?" Naruto asked him.

Nero opened his eyes to see his pink and orange haired teammates. "Wha? What are you talking about?"

"When you stopped her punch!"

"I put my hand out and stopped it."

"Still, she's the Hokage, right?"

"That doesn't mean shit. What kind of ninja would I be if I'm not prepared for anything?" Nero looked irritated.

Kakashi poofed into existence in front of them, in a puff of smoke.

"Yo."

Nero rubbed his shoulders. "Man, I'm glad I have this jacket."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Hm? A little cold, Nero?"

"Well, considering you got here on time, I'm sure Hell will be freezing over at any time, along with the rest of the planet."

"Wow, that's actually a valid point." Sakura said, realizing what Nero had said was true.

Kakashi facepalmed. "I figured after 3 years, I might as well give this a try."

Nero snorted. "Yeah, very likely."

"Anyway," Kakashi leaned against a tree, taking a similar stance as Nero, "do you guys remember the first test that I have you, to join my squad?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah! The one where we had to get the bells, right?"

"Exactly. We'll essentially be doing the same thing today."

Kakashi pulled a book out from his back pocket. "You guys can pretty much begin whenever you want."

Nero laughed loudly, and produced a book out of his jacket, not smut, but a book about the founding of the Fire Nation.

He started reading it, in a similar, nonchalant fashion that Kakashi was.

Sakura started to throw a punch at Kakashi, but unsurprisingly, he faded in a puff of smoke. Sakura looked around, wondering where Kakashi would have gone.

'Of course!' Sakura had a strike of genius.

She winded up her hand and smashed her fist into the ground.

Kakashi, sure enough, flew up from underground as her punch broke the whole earth below her.

'Hm. She's trying to be just like Tsunade, isn't she. Just not as hot.' Nero was slightly surprised by her new display of strength.

Kakashi recovered and stepped back, avoiding further assault.

"It seems like you got a lot stronger." Kakashi said, eyes still on his book.

"Of course, I trained under Lady Tsunade!"

"Remember though, the point is to get the bells." Kakashi said.

Naruto took advantage of this and he sent a clone at Kakashi, nearly making him drop his book. Kakashi moved out of the way, taking a small hit from the clone but destroyed it.

Nero noticed that there was something behind him, and he sidestepped. Kakashi had dropped out of the tree above with a kunai, the real one.

Nero joined the other 2 ninja as the fake Kakashi disappeared.

"Kakashi, I'm not gonna fall for your bullshit. Try something else." Nero told him.

Kakashi's face turned serious. He flipped up the eye part of his mask. He closed his book.

"Hm. I guess I'll have to get serious."

Kakashi revealed his red Sharingan, still covered his mouth with his mask.

Nero closed his book as well. "There we go!"

Nero faced Kakashi. 'Let's see if this works on him.'

Nero drew power inside himself, grabbing onto something deeper than Chakra. It almost took all his strength, but he exerted the dark power inside of him.

'Agh! What is this? I can't see!' Kakashi covered his Sharigan eye.

Flawlessly, Nero slid a kick under Kakashi's leg, bringing him to the ground. He swiped the two bells from Kakashi's belt and smiled.

"I guess we win this one, eh Sensei?" Nero gave a laugh.

Kakashi struggled to get to his feet. He placed the mask over his eye. "I guess you did."

He noticed that the pain faded a little once he disabled the Sharingan.

'What the hell did he do to me? As soon as I activated my Sharingan, I couldn't see at all… that blinding aura hit me.' Kakashi tried to figure out what happened.

"Would you like to explain what you just did?" Kakashi asked casually.

"I'd rather not. I like keeping my secrets."

Kakashi's face hardened. Nero smiled.

"Well, nevertheless, the Hokage wanted me to inform you that the three of us will be forming Team Kakashi."

Nero snorted. "Yay!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Any objections?"

"Nope."

"Alright, good then. Meet me tomorrow in the Hokage Tower at 10 AM sharp. Don't be late!"

With that, he disappeared into smoke.

"Did that fucker really just say that.." Nero mumbled.

Naruto smiled. "Guess we're back together, eh? Does that mean, maybe I could have a date today, Sakura?"

Sakura's face filled with irritation. "Actually, I think I'm going out with Nero tonight."

Nero looked up in surprise.

"Nero who? I didn't approve of this. I'm not just gonna go out with you because you didn't want to go out with Naruto."

Sakura looked shocked.

"Besides, you're not even that cute. Fuck off."

Nero smiled. With that, he walked off back into the village leaving two ninja with completely open mouths.

Nero walked around Konoha whistling a tune. He didn't feel one bit of regret for what he had said to Sakura, he meant every word of it. Yes it was harsh, but at the same time, Sakura was a huge bitch. She'd had it coming to her for the longest time and frankly Nero just didn't care. Still...now he didn't have a place to stay. Sakura was previously possible to room with but he'd just probably screwed up any chance of that. He'd have to go rent out a bed at an inn, which wasn't the most exciting of options but it satisfied most of his needs. Apparently in the three years that he left, they'd moved him from his apartment in favor of someone who could pay while he was gone, so he had no place to stay. Typical Konoha bastards. He was almost tempted to kill the current occupant and take his old spot back, but that'd draw too much attention to him, attention that he really didn't need or want at the moment.

The ninja found himself lounging in a bookstore looking for something to read at some point in the evening.

"History of Konoha, The Fourth's Peril….. Icha-Icha?"

Nero cracked open the book that Kakashi was seen so frequently holding.

"What a pervert. Can't get any tail himself, he's gotta read up on these fantasies." Nero chuckled.

He set down the book and picked up a jet black, small book.

"Hm, a bingo book. Let's see if I've popped up in this yet." He chuckled to himself again quietly.

"Finding everything alright sir?"

Nero nearly jumped a foot in the air, dropping the book on the ground. He spun on his heels to find a smiling, long haired ninja in white behind him.

"Christ, what's wrong with you Neji?" Nero stooped and picked up the bingo book,

Neji laughed. "You're over here talking to yourself, I figure I could ask you the same thing."

The silver haired ninja relaxed himself after a second. He closed the book and headed for the front counter.

"I'm going insane with nothing to do. Who else can I have intellectual conversations with other than myself?"

"That's why I'm talking to you now. There are too many idiots in this village, we are the outliers, so to speak."

Nero placed a sum of money on the counter as he walked out with the bingo book. Neji was right behind him, still smiling.

"Shall we go to the Treehouse?" Neji asked.

Nero stopped and looked at Neji. "You've become very relaxed in my absence, hm?"

"Also, what the fuck is 'the Treehouse'?" Nero continued before Neji could answer.

Neji laughed. "The spot. The hideout."

"I call the meetings."

"I've recruited more members in the time you were gone."

"I've recruited more members in the time I was gone."

Neji scowled. "C'mon."

The two headed towards the training grounds and found the most rarely used one. Nero stepped into the bushes near a large tree and searched around.

"It's been too long since I've been here."

He scoped around until finally, he found a seal on the ground. He made a series of hand signals and hit the middle of the black seal inscribed on the terrain. The ground seemed to shiver and shift until a small hole opened up. Nero descended the steel ladder down the narrow hole with Neji following above him. They continued down the ladder for about a minute until they hit the ground. The area was very dark and small but they seemed to know which way to go-down a hallway. They travelled in silence until they started to see a small light at the end of the hallway. They walked out into a dimly lit area, furnished lavishly. It seemed to resemble the inside of a living room, with 2 couches set up and many chairs. On one side of the room sat a large metal cabinet, which seemed to be a storage for scrolls. Next to it sat 3 desks with chairs, the whole organization of the room was neat.

Neji sat himself down on a couch, while Nero took to a rack filled with liquor bottles. He grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass, which he filled, then headed over to the couch opposite of Neji. He placed the bottle of wine on the table in between the two and leaned back on the couch.

"What's really been happening in my absence?"

Neji sighed. "I've been holding it down. For one, I've recruited a number of new members."

"Hana Inuzuka and Ishi Yamanaka. Both very loyal."

Nero chucked. "Yes, that girl is from the Inuzuka clan, loyal like a bitch. But in all seriousness, she's essentially worthless. The family has no real pull or use, she's a veterinarian. To be fair, the cooperation ninjutsu that they use is fairly strong. But Yamanaka, he could be useful for interrogation. Did you give them the mark?"

"Of course not, that's your thing," said Neji with a hint of jealously.

"No need to be hasty to learn the seal, it takes quite a bit of power. I'll show you in the future. For now, let me explain who I've recruited."

"I've had the chance to speak to a couple akatsuki members-"

Neji put his hand up. "Hold on. Akatsuki? You gonna elaborate?"

"Well, I was about to explain if you'd let me continue?"

Neji still had an astounded look on his face but dropped his hand. "I managed to convince Deidara to join our cause on the grounds that he gets to blow up whatever he wants. Most of the other members I couldn't get in touch with."

"You're going to let him do that?"

"Hell if I care. In addition to these two, I also recruited the bounty hunter Kakuzu under the promise of a LOT of cash. More than I would have liked to spend. His partner was, to say the least, a fucking idiot so I didn't even talk to him. I also didn't get to meet with a majority of the members, but I did get to talk to the ones I wanted, save for the leader."

Neji looked at him with curiosity. "How did you gain access to these people?"

Nero chuckled and took a sip from his glass. He grinned at Neji.

"That's a story for another time. For now, let's just drink to our accomplishments."

"I don't drink." Neji rolled his eyes.

Nero laughed aloud. "Well, I'll drink to our accomplishments. Enjoy this serenity while you can."

"So what's the next move?"

Nero scratched his head. "That's a good question. I'd say for now we just lay low. Wait for something to happen."

"Wait. That doesn't sound like a plan."

"Neji, you probably have never seen this in action, but I have a theory."

Neji's eyebrows raised.

"You see, in this world, things are always bound to happen. I call it, the opportunity theory. If you wish for opportunities, simply wait. For instance, if you wanted to be Hokage, you'd simply wait and sure enough a couple years later there'd be a huge incident that you could solve, thus putting you closer to becoming Hokage. Something will happen that gives us an opportunity to gain the upper hand."

"And if it doesn't?" Neji was looking skeptical throughout this whole explanation.

"I have an actual plan, I just don't want to tell you anything. Wait for my lead and complete the task I asked of you a while ago."

Before Neji could retort, a figure appeared next to the couch Nero was seated on. He was a young boy, no older than 16, with dark red hair. He didn't don a headband, but had on attire one might see on a ninja.

"What is it, I'm busy?" Nero didn't even look over.

The boy looked flustered. "Well uh, Nero sir. It-it appears Orochimaru broke into one of our hideouts- in Kumo…"

Nero tightened his grip on the glass, but didn't change visually. "You have him tied up somewhere, or is he dead?"

"Uh….nei-neither, he got away."

Nero shattered the glass in his hand, causing Neji to jump up and the boy to back away. The katana flashed from Nero's waist and he was in front of the boy in a second with the steel to his neck. The boy was paralyzed with fear. Neji started towards the armed ninja but Nero slipped his sword back into its sheath.

"I apologize for that. Quite unprofessional of me. This isn't a good situation though. Not good at all." Nero paced around the room. "I think," he said after stopping his habit and gaining a calm look on his face, "that this can go excused for now. This might actually work in our favor."

The boy was still with fear even after be assured that he wouldn't die just yet, but Nero sat back down and so did Neji.

"Just how does that work out for us? Orochimaru probably took something from the base, could be a spy, could be research, or he could have stolen weapons. We should leave and look for him."

Nero turned to the boy. "What did he take?"

The boy didn't seem to realize he was being talked to until he felt the glares of 2 powerful men cast upon him. He could swear that the killing intent made him want to drop dead right there instead of suffer what the two could do.

"I-uh…he didn't take anything so far. We haven't - um, searched the place well enough yet."

Nero turned back to Neji. "See, there you have it. This can go one of two ways. Best case scenario, he came looking for something in there and couldn't get it. Maybe even came looking for me. But travelling out to Kumo is a no-no. We'd end up wasting our time, he'd be long gone. The reason I say we have an advantage is because we know that he's in the north. It'll take him at least a couple days for him to make a big movement, so we can have our best members out sweeping in the Lightning and Frost."

Neji nodded, accepting the fact that nothing could be done as of now.

"You," he pointed at the boy, "leave now and tell me when you find out what we lost, if anything. Make sure you send a message through comms or something, I won't be down here."

"Yes, sir." The boy didn't stutter for once and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"You haven't fixed your temper, I see." Neji had a small smile on his face but his tone was completely serious. Nero could see that this was a serious evaluation of his behavior and he didn't like it. Although he saw Neji as a friend and an equal (most didn't get this privilege), he preferred to deal with his issues on his own.

"You've gained the inability to hold your tongue." Nero smirked right back at him. He brushed the remnants of the shattered glass cup from next to him on the couch.

Neji's speech relaxed and turned less serious, for the moment. "I guess years of relaxation without worrying about dying to you made me a little more lax."

The two laughed for a while, then Nero's face turned stoic.

"I'm serious Neji." Nero started to stand up. "We have to be careful out here. There's already a lot of people that want to kill me, and if they know as much about me as myself, they'll come for you too. More importantly, finish off what I asked. Get the book and bring it to me, this is child's play. Shouldn't have even taken you this long."

"I've been waiting for the right moment." Neji protested.

"You've had three years!" Nero laughed.

Neji scowled but waved his hand. "I'll take care of it. Go back home and sleep, we've spent too much time here already."

"I hope you do. I might just have to kill you." Nero disappeared in a flash of black flames.

For once, Neji didn't doubt this, but laughed just as if Nero told a joke.

Nero reappeared in a small alley that was only inhabited by a couple of trash cans. He looked around, and after spotting no one, walked out into the night. The meeting between him and Neji was very refreshing for him considering Neji was one of his most trusted friends. While they had made considerable progress, Nero's general analysis was they hadn't made any big moves. They did have various Akatsuki members on their side but only for the battle, not much in the way of intel. As soon as Nero had the book from the Hyuuga house, he'd be able to move a lot more freely. Putting those thoughts aside, he did need a place to stay, so he headed to the inn and rented himself a room with the money he kept in his cloak. This wasn't what he wanted, but he didn't have any other options at the moment. He'd have to find a woman to stay with because staying at an inn every night wasn't going to work for him. A permanent residence where he wouldn't have to worry about who would be in and out the house would be perfect, but hard to find. For one, whose parents would let him stay there? Secondly, he'd have to tell the resident his full intentions and trust them enough not to squeal. He would stay with Neji, but he wasn't sure Hisashi would be too comfortable with that idea. Nero had always considered telling Hisashi his motives, but on the off chance that the leader didn't agree with him, he'd have to kill him and get away with it, a feat that he couldn't picture himself completing successfully. Nero realized that thinking about this probably wouldn't help him much and he'd be better off winging it. After checking out his window for any ANBU members and spotting none, though he suspected there were probably some in this inn, he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep.

The silver haired ninja woke up fairly early, as he usually did and laid out a plethora of scrolls on the ground next to his bed with seals all over them. He sat cross legged in the middle of them, closing his eyes and seemingly channeling energy throughout his body. The ink on the scrolls glowed dimly with blue energy. After about an hour of this motionless stance, Nero opened his eyes, hearing a voice from inside his own skull.

"Nero?"

Nero stood up and stretched his arms. "What's the problem?"

"We've received some surprising news. The Kazekage, Gaara, has been taken down and captured by the Akatsuki."

Nero scratched his head. He didn't look particularly surprised, but he was smiling a little.

"Who did they send to get him?" Nero asked with a chuckle rising in his throat.

"Judging from the reports, they sent Deidara. Everyone saw a blonde figure riding a paper bird, and he used explosives, at one point even creating one big enough to obliterate the village."

Nero laughed out loud. "They sent him, of all people, to get Gaara? I'm not surprised that he succeeded, but I wouldn't have imagined him as a first choice against Gaara. I suppose, Gaara is fairly young. Deidara has a very visible strategy and Gaara may have fallen prey to it simply because of his lack of experience."

"Well, that's the only news we have on the matter so far. I'll let you get back to-er, whatever you were doing."

Nero, still chuckling, gathered up all everything he had set up in the room. Deidara wasn't exactly the most tactical fighter, no. He was brute force. At the same time though, Gaara was brute force as well. His techniques relied on him brutally crushing his opponent from afar, and defending himself with a barrier of sand. Now that he thought about it a little more, it was completely plausible that Deidara could have simply overpowered him. He also thought about what he said to Neji. His theory turned to be true. An opportunity popped up. He sealed all of his belongings in a scroll and headed out of the inn after navigating his way down the hall. His next destination was Hokage Tower. He could easily be there instantly, but some things were just better done the old fashioned way.

He found himself climbing the steps to the Hokage's Office not to shortly after, expecting his team to be in there as well. He wasn't disappointed. He found Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura standing in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Well, you're not late or anything." Sakura said coldly.

Nero smiled. "Good, didn't think I was. What's going on?"

"We're trying to figure out what kinda mission we're gonna go on. She wants us to take a stupid D-rank mission that really isn't a mission!"

Nero frowned.

"Actually, the pay difference between C-ranks and D-ranks aren't that bad. We could just take a D-rank one and make some quick money."

Naruto looked pissed. "YEAH! But-"

He was cut off from an opening door behind him.

"Lady Hokage, there's an important message for you!"

Everyone in the room turned towards the new blonde woman.

"The Kazekage has been taken down and captured by the Akatsuki."

"WHA? Gaara! My buddy!" this came from Nero.

Every face turned to look at him while he held his hand over his mouth in feign shock. He looked around as if he was surprised with all the attention on him.

"Continue on." Tsunade said, eyeing Nero suspiciously

"The Village of Suna requests a squad to send help to retrieve the Kazekage."

Tsunade thought for a second. "There's no time to waste. Team 7, find out anything you can and get to Suna as quickly as possible."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "Gaara's in trouble."

He raised his stern face and smiled.

"Let's do everything we can to help him!" he shouted out.

Kakashi and Sakura nodded, while Nero stood stoically, waiting for the team to leave.

"Okay, let's head out."


	2. A Long Night

The team departed from Konoha and started towards Suna. The sun had only begun to set when they stopped and set up camp before they reached the desert. They set up a few tents, a fire, and planned out the strategy for finding the Kazekage and the Akatsuki once they reached Suna. This lasted a couple hours before they decided to head to bed and finish preparations in the morning.

The ninja crawled into their respective tents and silence struck the area, and stayed this way for a few hours. Out of the blue, Nero awoke to a sharp voice calling his name.

"Nero!"

He sat up with a start. He listened for a moment but didn't hear the voice again. Deciding it must have been in his dream, he started to lay down again but was interrupted by the same voice.

"Nero!"

The ninja realized that the voice was indeed coming from his head, it was a transmission from one of his correspondents. He sat up and shook his head, attempting to clear the fogginess of sleep.

' _ **What's the problem that you bother me at this ungodly hour with?'**_ Nero projected back

' _If it wasn't completely urgent, I wouldn't be up either. Are you in Suna yet?'_

' _ **No. We haven't reached it yet, but we're close. Hurry up and get to the point.'**_

' _One of the spies we hired found some information on Orochimaru.'_

' _ **Really? This information is so crucial it warranted talking to me now?'**_

' _We found out the location of one of his informants, which happens to be right near Suna.'_

Nero's precautions weren't the sturdiest when it came to quick escapes. One quick shadow clone was about the only thing he had back at that camp if anyone were to wake up, so he was relying heavily on the fact that the rest of team 7 was hopefully deep in sleep. To be fair, the little village wasn't that far from the resting spot they had chosen, but it certainly would be a distance to cover in a short amount of time.

The village itself couldn't even really be considered a village. Nero understood why this could get overlooked so easily; it was so damn small. He could nearly count the number of houses in the space, which he wasn't that dissapointed about. A small village made for a short search and an even quicker escape. His informant however, had given him a big advantage into the game of hide and seek.

Nero strolled into the small tavern that was easily identifiable with the sign out front. Although it may have been the most lively spot in the village, it was anything but packed this late at night. Granted, a few customers sat at the bar and seemed to be scattered around the joint, including the barkeep. He gave the desolated room an amused look and made his way to a stool at the bar. Sitting down, his face changed to an annoyed scowl when the bartender continued to turn his back on the black clad shinobi.

"Yo!" Nero put two fingers in the air irritatedly.

"What'll it be?" The bartender spoke in a gruff voice, one that reminded Nero of none other than….

'FUCKING ASUMA! BAHAHAHAH! Is this even humanly possible to sound as pathetic as that chain-smoking dickhead?' Nero struggled to keep himself under control. Luckily, the bartender seemed not to care either way, busying himself with cleaning the glasses he'd just finished washing.

"I'm not here for a drink friend. I'm here for the serpent."

The man turned towards Nero upon hearing this.

Nero broke out in a slow smile. "Ah, that got your attention. So you know shit?"

The bartender looked Nero up and down. White hair, young face, he looked too arrogant for his own good. Who the hell was the kid?

"My information comes at a price."

Nero scoffed.'This fucker. He never told me that finding this informant would cost me a small fortune. I don't like to spend the only money out of my pocket, but I guess this is a good a cause as any.'

Nero reached into his cloak and pulled out a small stack of bills from his inside pocket. He reluctantly placed it on the counter and the man picked it up, flipping through the cash. Nero was not a patient man, and the amount of time this man was taking to do everything was painstakingly slow.

"The snake is in the house with a red rooftop." The man said, pocketing the money and turning back around.

Nero threw his hands up and hopped off of the stool. "God damn it, I really just paid you to say a couple words? The least you could do is blow me for all the trouble I went through."

With that, the shinobi headed back out the door with a loud, "Cya Asuma!" as he walked back out into the night.

The bartender shook his head as he continued to clean the rest of the glasses so he could close up shop. 'Who the hell was that? He's gonna end up getting himself killed messing with these people. I guess it's not my job to care about this shit, I got paid anyway. Wait a minute, did he call me Asuma?'

Nero wanted nothing more than to be asleep right now. Unfortunately, he couldn't control everything in the world, so right now he was forced to go against his own wishes. Looking up at the dark sky, Nero silently jumped onto the closest roof near him, which happened to be the roof of the bar he just exited. Scanning over the house rooftops, most of which happened to be yellow, he spotted a dark red rooftop about 5 houses away from him.

He leapt off of his roof, touching his feet down on the next only for a second before they left the ground again. Soon enough he found himself on the red rooftop he was searching for. He looked down at the worn rooftop and shook his head.

"Orochimaru… always making shit more difficult for me."

He reached his hand out and a black flame appeared, clearing shortly to reveal a completely white mask with a large crack down the length of it. He fit it on his face and sighed.

"Hm. What's the fastest way to get this done?" Nero mulled aloud.

He snapped his fingers with a realization. He closed his ringers on his right hand to form an open palm and a blue coat of chakra covered his hand. Nero reached down to the roof and his hand slid through it like paper. Moving his hand in a small circle under himself, a portion of the roof collapsed, bringing him falling into the home and landing on his feet in the middle of a small room.

There were two occupants of the room, both of whom didn't seem exactly prepared or overjoyed at the arrival of Nero, or the piece of roof that just found it's way to the middle of their living room.

"Yo!" Nero raised his hand slightly and waved two fingers. "Which one of you works for Orochimaru?"

The two occupants, a man and a woman, still were speechless and seemed to be utterly shocked at the appearance of a person in their living room in the middle of the night. The man regained his composure slightly and gave off a more angry look.

"Wh-who the hell are you?"

Nero slapped his forehead, getting more irritated by the minute.

"I asked the first question dickhead. Don't worry about who I am."

Nero glanced over at the table behind the two residents. By the look of it, they just finished a late night dinner.

"Great choice, by the way." He pointed at a bowl of ramen.

The man, now visibly angry, pulled out a short sword and took a threatening stance with one hand.

"You've made a huge mistake here."

Nero stared at the sword for a minute, then broke out laughing.

"BWAHAHAH! Please, put that tiny thing away. I really doubt it'll do you any good."

The man pushed the woman out of the way and charged towards Nero as he drew back his sword. Faster than either homeowner could see, Nero drew his sword and sliced upwards, parrying the attack. The man, now off balance, had no choice but to take the kick to the chest Nero threw, flying backwards and breaking several glasses and plates.

Nero looked towards the woman now who was trying to get over to her injured husband, but Nero grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards him.

"It's you, isn't it."

He forced the sleeve on her left arm up and found a black pattern crawling up to her shoulder blade. She withdrew a heavy breath and looked fearfully into Nero's eyes.

"Orochimaru actually put a mark on a female? I'm surprised he'd even go near one, I know how much he likes to bite guys…" Nero wondered aloud.

The man was now beginning to recover, shaking shards of broken china and food off of himself as he stood up again. Nero, noticing this, quickly grabbed the red haired woman in a headlock a produced a kunai from the inside of his cloak, placing the sharp edge against her throat and drawing a small amount of blood.

"You bastard! Let her go!" The man was now clambering to retrieve his sword from it's spot on the ground.

Nero's patience was beginning to run thin. He really wanted to get some sleep tonight, but he also needed to transport this damned girl to a cell. The definite last thing he wanted to do was fight some dramatic husband for the showdown of the century.

"Enough. I appreciate the hospitality, but-"

Before Nero could finish his sentence, something unexpected happened. The woman threw her elbows back and managed to break out of the hold. Nero wasn't exactly holding on tight as he didn't expect much resistance with a sharp blade to her neck, but there she was, now stumbling back towards her husband. She stopped and reached for a kunai out of a holster on her thigh, turning back towards Nero.

Nero scoffed angrily. "Are we really going through this again?

Very few things shocked Nero anymore, but he really wasn't prepared for the woman turning the kunai to her mouth and separating her tongue from the base. Both Nero and the other man stood speechless as the organ fell to the floor and the woman collapsed in pain. It took a minute for Nero to realize exactly what she'd done and his eyes lit with anger under his mask.

Blind rage started to consume the shinobi and he threw a hard kick at her stomach, causing her to cough blood all over the floor. The man winced and drew his sword back, rushing at Nero again. Acting quickly, Nero unsheathed his blade and slashed it upwards through the torso of his attacker. He fell back to the ground next to his wife with blood spilling out of his open wound.

"Dumb girl. You play with me…" Nero stepped over the man. "You pay your price."

Within a breathe, the man's head was rolling to the ground. The now tongueless woman struggled to stay conscious and weakly attempted to crawl her way over to her husband.

"What to do…." Nero managed to calm himself before he ended up killing the very thing he came here for. His spur of the moment plan didn't end up working out as well as he thought it would and the girl went to extreme lengths to keep Orochimaru's information hidden. She was smart, she knew her mouth would break before her mind did.

"Ah." Nero's eyes lit up under his mask and he broke out in a smile. The woman, nearly passed out next to her headless husband and bleeding profusely from her mouth was lifted over Nero's shoulder and thrown down on the floor of another room, leaving fresh spots of blood on the clean wood. Nero reached into his cloak and pulled out a small brush and can of black paint. He opened the can and began to paint an intricate design on the floor that was about the size of the woman. A couple minute later, he was dragging the unconscious girl by her right arm into the circle.

Placing his right hand on the floor next to the design, his hand began to turn blue as he exerted chakra out of himself and into the black paint. The design began to glow a deep blue and the radiant light in the room became blinding, swallowing the injured girl up. Then, within a heartbeat, the light vanished and the girl was gone. The black paint was replaced by slightly scattered ashes and Nero swiped his feet across the floor, removing what was left of the design.

Shaking his head, disappointed at the mess he made, he jumped back through the hole he made in the roof and dashed back onto the rooftops.

' _ **Kyoshi, I'm transporting the aforementioned informant into the third cell.'**_ Nero was truly hoping, for Kyoshi's sake, that he would answer immediately. Luckily for both parties, the man answered within a few seconds.

' _R-right now? You're coming?'_ Nero noticed that his subordinate sounded a bit dazed and he suspected he had just woken up. Nero tried to hold his annoyance in so he could finish up this conversation as soon as possible.

' _ **No, I'm not coming. I transported her via a seal that I usually use for moving items quickly, hopefully she isn't dead.**_ '

' _Dead? W-why would she be dead?_ ' The man had a hint of fear in his voice.

' _ **Well, we had a bit of a situation here. Long story short, her tongue is completely gone and there's a pretty high chance she'll be missing a fuck ton of blood by the time she reaches you. Your job is to keep her alive and sane. I don't give a shit about her physical state as long as she isn't dead. Got it?**_ ' Nero hoped that his instructions were specific enough to not warrant any questions as he'd had a very long night.

' _But..'_

' _ **Got it?**_ ' Nero asked again blankly.

' _Hai._ '

Nero closed the connection between his affiliate and lept from a large tree as he neared the team 7 campsite. Hopefully, everyone still thought he was asleep and he could finally get some rest. It had been a taxing night, but he at least he didn't come out of this ordeal empty handed. He had the girl, and that was worth his entire night if it lead him to Orochimaru.

"Long night?"

Nero hadn't even noticed Kakashi standing against the tree he just passed by. Stopping in his tracks, Nero nearly screamed. His luck just wasn't running well tonight.

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

"The same. Say, Nero…" Kakashi straightened himself from his leaning position on the tree and put a hand in his pocket. "Where exactly did you go in your years for training?"

Nero put a hand on his head and scratched it. "You mean the 3 years after the exam?"

"Yes."

"You really want to know?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I do."

Nero sighed deeply. "Well, you can go fuck yourself. Night!"

Cheerily, Nero headed back to the camp and into his tent without a look back at the white haired jounin.

Kakashi gave a deep sigh of his own. He had a feeling this mission was not going to go as smoothly as he hoped.


	3. Sand and Cloaks

The morning brought some sort of pseudo peace for the team- Naruto and Sakura were actually having civilized a discussion, Nero was off to himself; whistling and deep in his own thoughts, Kakashi was, and God knows how, reading Icha-Icha and managing to dodge every stray tree root in his path despite the fact he was pretty immersed in his smut.

Perhaps it was the fact that they were finally nearing the border to Suna now, or maybe it was just the complete and utter boredom that was overtaking them right now, but they actually seemed like a normal team for a moment. Then again, moments are fleeting, so this won't last long.

'I can't take this much longer… idiots in a pointless conversation, Kakashi buried in his porn. I'm gonna go insane at this rate.' Nero frowned as his inward thoughts mirrored on his face.

He looked into the distance and spotted something.

'Is that… a blonde?'

His suspicions were confirmed a couple minutes later when team 7 caught up to the aforementioned blonde.

"Hey, Temari-san!" Naruto yelled out, now that she was within eyesight of the entire team. Nero looked over at him annoyed, since Naruto had basically just screamed directly in his ear. Deciding not to kill him just yet, he turned his attention to the blonde girl, who had now turned around upon hearing Naruto's easily distinguishable voice.

'Naruto… loud as ever.' She thought.

The Konoha ninja were a comforting sight to her. Naruto, always loud and optimistic. Sakura, a little bit quieter and she was smarter than most kunoichi. Kakashi, one of the most famous ninja throughout the entire land of fire. But the fourth one… was that really him?

'Holy shit… Nero's kind of hot. Like really hot…' Temari couldn't suppress the instant thoughts that came to her mind about the black clad shinobi.

"Hey guys! Where are you headed?"

"Well.." Nero scratched the back of his head and smiled, much like a yellow haired ninja did, which went unnoticed by all but Kakashi. "Your brother Gaara kind of got kidnapped by the Akatsuki. Messed up, right?"

Temari froze with a horror stricken look on her face. "Are you serious?"

Nero frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, I am. Knowing the Akatsuki we'd better hurry up or we're going to end up finding him dead."

"Nero's right. We've got to hurry." Kakashi said, nodding.

"I can't believe this." Temari muttered. For once, the fan wielder looked vulnerable; she was scared and angry. Of course, Nero had to take advantage of this.

He squeezed Temari's arm. "Don't worry. We'll find him."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow. This was hysterically out of character if you spent as much time with Nero as he did. There had to be some ulterior motive here. Kakashi just was hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with any angry sand or puppet slinging brothers coming after Nero's head before the end of this journey.

Suna

2 days later, they finally arrived at Suna. Which was more or less of a good thing. For Nero, this was torture. Why? Well, Suna was swelteringly hot at the moment and Nero was really wishing he had worn a damn sunhat or something. He couldn't stand this heat. It wasn't just hot, it was dry. The area was pretty beautiful but just being here in this heat was turning out to be almost too much for him.

The four ninja stopped at the village gates.

"Christ, how can you stand this?" Nero shook his head slowly and wiped his forehead.

"It's not that bad." Temari rolled her eyes. "I can't believe that this is your weakness out of all things. The weather." She laughed a little.

"Ah, shut up. Let's just get this over with so I can kill these cloaked bastards."

"The mission is about saving the Kazekage." Kakashi chimed in, putting his hand on Nero's shoulder.

Nero looked over at Kakashi in confusion. "What? Oh, yeah. That too."

As they approached the destroyed entrance gate, a Suna guard blocked their entry to the village.

"Stop! Who- ah, I apologize, Temari-san!" The guard noticed her last and relaxed his stance. "We have an emergency."

"I know, Gaara's been captured. That's why…"

"No, Kankuro-dono has been hospitalized!"

Her eyes widened and she gasped. The group of ninja sprinted to the hospital, Temari constantly praying that her brother wasn't dead.

A couple minutes later they bursted into the hospital room where Kankuro was lying on a hospital bed surrounded by medics. He looked like he was in perfect physical condition, but his face was screwed up in a show of immeasurable pain.

"What's wrong with him?" Temari nearly shouted.

"He's been poisoned." A medic responded.

"You can't get an antidote?" Temari was frantic at this point.

"W-we've never dealt with any poison like this before. It's fast acting and rapidly changing."

'Sasori. Maybe I'll finally get to dismantle that piece of shit on this trip.' Nero thought, retreating to a chair next to the bed.

He watched as Sakura approached the bed and looked over Kankuro.

'Sasori and Deidara. They won't hesitate to kill him, and they can do it very easily. We don't know their location as of now or even have any clues… Gaara is most likely dead.' He shrugged internally. 'Not my problem, although wiping out an Akatsuki member now would be very useful. I even have the best excuse to do it.'

"You gotta save him Sakura…" Naruto muttered out, he seemed genuinely sad. He didn't know Kankuro all that well, but he certainly didn't want Temari to be hurt.

"His life isn't in danger anymore." Sakura said as she sighed and backed away from the bed, breaking Nero out of his thoughts. Temari sighed in relief and smiled slightly. She mouthed a "thank you" to Sakura.

"Nice job Sakura." Kakashi praised the girl. He turned to one of the medics. "Where did you find him in this state? I'm pretty well trained at tracking, I should be able to find the location of whoever did this fairly quickly."

'You? More like your dogs.' Nero snickered, drawing a quick look from Kakashi.

The medic ninja was about to answer but was cut off by the puppeteer sitting up in his bed. "There's no need for that." He now turned to the medics. "Have you retrieved my puppets?"

One of the medic ninja nodded and Kankuro smiled.

"Check Karasu's right arm."

Kakashi reached under the bed and came back a minute later with a shred of black fabric.

"You managed to pull an advantage even when losing a fight. I'm impressed." Kakashi said.

"They don't call me a ninja for nothing." Kankuro smirked.

Nero rolled his eyes. He was utterly amazed at how a man could be so cocky when he nearly got his ass beat by a wooden structure.

Kakashi formed a few handsigns and slammed his palms into the hospital floor. "Kuchiouse no Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke, and 8 dogs were now present in the hospital room along with the ninja.

"Kakashi!" The small dog, Pakkun greeted the jounin enthusiastically. "What'd you need us for?"

"Pakkun!" Naruto leaped forward to give a sort of hug to the small dog and the dog seemed to match his enthusiasm.

"Naruto! It's been quite some time. You definitely look like you got stronger!"

The yellow haired shinobi put his fist out and smiled. "It's not just the look either!"

Kakashi waved two fingers impatiently and pulled out the piece of cloth. "The Kazekage's been kidnapped. I need you to follow the trail."

The little brown dog nodded. "You got it?" He addressed the other dogs. "Let's go!"

7 of the dogs all dispersed in random directions, but Pakkun stayed behind. He slowly walked up to Nero, and the young shinobi raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, you just smell a bit familiar. Hm…"

And with that, Pakkun was off with the rest of the dogs. Kakashi almost started to ask Nero a question, but Nero put his hand up lightly.

"I don't fucking know, so don't ask me."

'Interesting. It lasts that long…' Nero thought.

"Well, there's nothing we can do as of now. Let's just rest here for the night and we'll be able to mobilize tomorrow." Kakashi said.

Nero gave a nod and walked out of the room.

Kakashi watched after the boy. Why was everything so complicated now?

Suna - ?

Even the side streets covered in shadows were scorching hot in Suna. Nero was hoping now that it was the dead of night, he might be feeling a little relief from the heat, but no chance. He leaned against a wall in a small alley, trying to ignore the heat building up around him. Irritated, he buried his face in his hands and for once wanted nothing more but to be back in Konoha. This lasted shortly as he realized what he was thinking and started to embrace the heat a little more.

"Enjoying the weather?" A new voice came out.

A girl about the same height as him came out from the shadows, smiling at Nero. Her purple hair looked almost black in the darkness and she walked with a bit of haste down the alley until she was right in front of Nero.

"Welcome to Suna, Nero-kun!"

Nero covered his face with his hand. "Kun? Everyone became so relaxed in my absence."

The rolled her eyes. "I can call you whatever I want."

He waved his hand. "Whatever makes you happy." At that she smiled.

"I'll probably be leaving again tomorrow."

The girl frowned at this. "Really? I thought I might actually get to spend some time with you."

"Should have known better. Tomorrow we'll have the Akatsuki's location, and I'll be able to get rid of one of the thorns in my side for a while now."

"How are things with Orochimaru?"

Nero sighed. "That's a long, quite annoying story. I've kidnapped one of his informants though. I need you to do something for me, by the way."

The girl smiled. "At a price."

Nero grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in slightly closer to him. "Stop being difficult, Miyo."

"If that's what being difficult gets me, I think I want to piss you off some more."

Nero took his free hand and reached into his cloak, pulling out a small, brown envelope. He handed it to Miyo, who looked puzzled.

"Make sure this ends up in Jōseki's house tonight. I'd like to get a bit of insider knowledge about Suna. And-" He grabbed Miyo's hand as she was about to open it. "Don't open it."

She pouted. "Keeping shit from me now?"

Nero chuckled and planted a small kiss on her lips. "I'll explain later. For now, thank you."

She sighed and hugged Nero. "Be-"

Nero burst out in a laugh before she could finish. "I'm not going to die out there, don't worry. I won't be dying any time soon."

She laughed too. "I was about to say be sure you turn that wooden freak into a pile of sticks, but good try."

Nero jumped off into the night, leaving behind a love stricken girl.

Suna - Gate

"I can't go?" Temari was outraged at Baki. "I'm his sister, and they need someone to escort them!"

Baki shook his head. "We are to stay here and guard the village. We can't just leave it open to be attacked again."

Temari glared at him. "Who's going to take them then?"

"I'll come with them." A voice rang out from above them.

The whole group was surprised to see an elderly woman jump from a rock above their heads and land on the ground with ease.

"Chiyo-sama? You've retired, you can't do this!" Temari argued.

Chiyo waved her hand at the blonde girl, to her irritation, and turned towards the Konoha shinobi. She looked all 4 of them down and frowned when she got to Kakashi. The elderly woman came closer and looked at him with an even harder stare. Kakashi was obviously feeling apprehensive and scratched the back of his head.

"You…you remind me of the White Fang…" The elderly woman said with contempt in her voice.

Kakashi's eye hardened. "I'm his son."

"I see." She looked at him with disgust. She turned to Nero. "And you?"

"What are you looking at geezer?"

She looked at him suspiciously and turned back to Kakashi.

"I am very skeptical of both of you, but I will join you on the condition that I will be the one who gets to fight my grandson."

Kakashi, deciding to act now and ask later, nodded. "Let's get moving then."

The 5 ninja leapt off in the way of the designated forest.

Temari and Baka exchanged nervous glances.

Akatsuki Hideout

Nine cloaks covered in red and white clouds stood on a giant statue, perched in front of Gaara. Inside the cloaks stood none other than nine members of the infamous Akatsuki. A man with what seemed to be a giant venus flytrap on his head turned his head.

"Someone is coming."

"Who is it?" Came the voice of the leader.

"A team…" The plant man said. "A team from Konoha."

The leader was silent for a moment. "Is the the Kyuubi jinchuuriki with them?"

"No, there is someone named Maito Gai."

A blue looking man with a large sword spoke up. "May I take this?"

"Very well." The leader responded.

"There is…. Another team." The plant said again.

"Who will go now?"

"This time, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and th-the boy is with them"

The leader hesitated again. "Which boy?"

"T-the only who's father they called 'Akuma'."

"I see." The leader thought for a moment and turned to the Uchiha in the room. "Don't let him interrupt the ritual. You'll pay the price in blood."

Forest near Suna

The Konoha ninja and their new companion were sprinting across trees and trying to get to the Kazekage as fast as possible before it was too late.

Suddenly, they spotted an obstacle in their path below them. The obstacle in question was a man, in fact. When they touched the ground and came face to face with the long haired man donning the Akatsuki cloak.

Nero stared at the man, who surprisingly, was staring right back at him. The rest of the team noticed this little stare down and ended up being even more surprised when Nero broke out in loud laughter.

"BAHAHAHAHAAHA!"

5 ninja looked at Nero curiously, including Itachi. Nero wiped his eye and cleared his throat, putting his hand up in apology.

"Sorry about that. Just can't believe I'm seeing this motherfucker here." He turned a bit serious. "It's been quite a while."

"It certainly has been some time, Nero-kun."

Kakashi turned back towards the Akatsuki ninja and glared. "Uchiha Itachi."

Sakura's eyes glowed with anger and determination. 'He's the one who hurt Sasuke-kun so much! I'm going to take him down here for good!'

"Ah, an Uchiha." Chiyo stepped forward. "It's been awhile since I've fought against a Sharingan."

"You fought against a sharingan user? How did you do it?" Sakura was eager to gain information to help her in this fight now.

"Well, when-"

Nero put his hand up. "Cut the talk old woman. Are you a ninja? Why would you reveal strategies here?"

Chiyo glared at him but didn't speak again.

"Besides…" Nero unsheathed the katana from his waist that he treasured so dearly. "I'll be the only one fighting Itachi today."

"What? He's one of the strongest members of the Akatsuki, you can't take him alone!" Kakashi protested.

"Yeah!" Naruto was glaring at Itachi. He seemed to have the same strong passion as Sakura did for the man who caused Sasuke so much pain. "No way I'm letting this guy get away without a beating!"

Nero wasn't paying attention to his teammates though. He was still glaring at a now smirking Itachi who unsheathed a katana of his own with a puff of smoke.

"Nero, this is an order! You're not to go in alone."

Nero turned around. "Fuck your orders."

He dashed forward and his sword met Itachi's in a clang of steel. Gritting his teeth against the smiling Nero, the ex-leaf shinobi struggled to keep his balance.

"You've made a grave mistake today." Nero said, pushing harder against Itachi with both hands.

Itachi said nothing and kept his steady position against Nero's sword, sweating slightly. Nero took one hand off his sword and continued pushing, covering his mouth with his free hand in a yawning gesture. Itachi's eyes hardened more, realizing the boy wasn't even really fighting yet. Nero suddenly exerted a burst of strength, knocking Itachi off balance. "Dumbass."

Nero sliced at Itachi's exposed chest, but he flipped backward to avoid getting his stomach slashed open- right into the hand of Nero, who grabbed his cloak by the neck and slammed the man into the ground. Itachi quickly tried to recover and met a sword through the ground where his chest was less than a second ago.

Not giving him a moment to rest, Nero rushed towards Itachi, who couldn't keep up with the frantic barrage of slices being sent his way. "You're...a little slow today…eh Itachi? What's…...going on?" Itachi was being forced to constantly dodge and lightly parry with his katana until he stumbled slightly. Nero saw his chance and quickly sent a wide horizontal swipe across his torso- only to find a crow sliced in half at the mercy of his blade. He turned around and saw the Uchiha bastard, gritting his teeth. A couple of the cuts Itachi simply couldn't avoid and it showed; parts of his cloak had small rips in them with a significant amount of blood coming out of the fairly deep cuts.

Itachi had yet another obstacle to dodge as he heard "Raikiri!" come out from behind him and he flipped in the air to dodge the electric jutsu coming from the white haired ex-anbu member. Kakashi jumped over next to Nero and took a battle stance facing Itachi.

"You have to fight me too."

"God damn it!" Nero glared at Kakashi.

Kakashi looked back down at his subordinate seriously. "You're part of a team. We fight this fight as a team. Nobody can do it alone."

Nero said nothing, but looked back towards Itachi. Then, without warning, he struck Kakashi on the back of the head, causing him to fall forward to the ground. Itachi stared at his opponent in surprise and he invoked 3 similar reactions from the conscious ninja behind him.

"Now…" Nero started, but he felt a fist coming behind him and ducked under it. He was now face to face with a livid looking Naruto.

"What the hell's your problem!" Naruto screamed in outrage at him.

"I told him to move. I'll do the same to you if you keep fucking with me."

Naruto aimed another sloppy punch at Nero and he ducked the same way, this time throwing a punch back at the yellow haired shinobi's head and sending him to the ground unconscious.

The two ninja heard a scream from behind them and they turned. Itachi had pushed Chiyo down and was behind Sakura with a kunai held to her neck. She had genuine fear in her eyes as the sharp steel pressed against her jugular. "Please! Do something!"

Nero sighed exasperatedly. "So much for knowing how to fight an Uchiha, you old hag."

Sakura gulped hard and caused the kunai to draw a bit of blood from her exposed neck. Tears almost formed in her eyes until she remembered that she was in the middle of battle, and her being weak was the reason this happened in the first place.

"So, you're really gonna kill this bitch?" Nero shot at Itachi.

Sakura's eyes widened and she didn't know whether to feel mad or extremely hurt at being called a bitch in this situation. Itachi also seemed quite shocked at the fact that he seemed not very excited to save his teammate. Naruto looked just about ready to knock Nero out, but he held himself back, as he could be Sakura's only hope.

"You seem to be more interested in your teammate's downfall as opposed to my own." Itachi observed.

"You're not going to do it, you pussy. I've already figured out what your little game was while we were locking swords back there."

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Hm?"

"You're blowing off time, trying to keep us here. You think I'm dumb? I know you're not this stupid, Uchiha."

"Stupid?"

"You have something I want. Why would you show up to fight me unexpectedly instead of baiting me out to your best advantage? You're a lot of things Itachi, the main one being a huge fucking tool. But you're not dumb."

Itachi simply said nothing.

"By the way, I've been stalling too. What you're doing in there will actually be helping me out a little, so I'll thank you now. Unfortunately, our time is running thin, my friend."

Nero drew back his sword. "Kyūshi." And he instantly disappeared.

Itachi barely had time to throw Sakura to the ground so he could dodge the sword thrusting towards his back. Itachi just couldn't match the speed of the next strike, coming from behind him again and slicing upwards through the upper half of his torso. Nero set his feet back on the ground and sheathed his now bloodstained katana. Itachi's gaping wound gushed with blood, and he collapsed to the ground as the hole in his chest got even bigger. The Akatsuki member fell still, blood still pouring out of the tear in his chest and staining the grass a sickly red color.

Nero looked down at the dead man's face, that seemed to have changed once he died. He beckoned Chiyo over. "Yo, granny! Who the hell is this?"

Chiyo looked over at the other three unconscious shinobi. 'So this is Nero….'

She walked over to the body and immediately recognized him. "Captain Yuura was the traitor… hmm."

"Well, he's not Itachi, so I don't really give a fuck!" Nero spoke cheerily and pulled a cigarette out of his cloak, lighting it with his finger.

Chiyo stared at Nero, looking him up and down. "I want to ask you a few questions."

Nero looked around. It was only him and Chiyo, everyone else dead or unconscious. Nero smiled. "By all means, ask away."

"First of all, how are you acquainted with the Uchiha so well?"

Nero tapped his chin. "We go back a long ways. I don't feel like answering that one."

Chiyo looked like she was going to protest, but nodded. "What was that technique you used to take his life?"

Nero smiled. "Now that's an interesting one. It's all taijutsu, a technique I made. I utilize my speed to make it look I've nearly went invisible, and strike when my opponent does not expect. A slower target has a very high chance of dying to it."

"You made this yourself. Impressive."

"Hm, thank you."

"I've got one more question for you." Chiyo said, putting her hands behind her back.

Nero flicked his cigarette to the ground and stomped on it. "Shoot."

"Are you really a tr-"

"Nero!" Her question was interrupted by a very irate Kakashi. The masked ninja's visible eye burned with anger and he grabbed the Nero by the hem of his cloak. Nero was not fazed by this and even smiled in the ex-anbu's face, making him even more livid than he was.

"You want to explain what that little stunt was back there? And where's Itachi?"

Nero sighed and put his hands up. "Look, I know you want an explanation now, but time is of the essence. I promise I'll explain later and I won't do that again."

Kakashi loosened his grip on Nero. The boy was right after all.

"And Itachi?"

"It was an imposter being controlled by Itachi. He's dead."

Naruto and Sakura were now beginning to get up now too. The two shinobi look slightly dazed, but Naruto's eyes narrowed when he set them on Nero.

"You!" He pointed at Nero. "You knocked out Kakashi-sensei!"

Nero looked blankly at the yellow haired boy. "Yes."

"You knocked me out too!"

"I still don't see your point."

"I'm your teammate!" Naruto yelled. "We're supposed to work together!"

"Yes, and in the middle of the fight with a dangerous Akatsuki member, you decided to turn on me because I was trying to keep Kakashi from harm. Your reckless behavior caused Sakura to be put in danger and the rest of our lives as well. Now, I'd hate to cut this little conversation short, but if you haven't noticed we've wasted a significant amount of time here while someone's life is at stake." Nero spoke sharply to Naruto and he stepped over the body of Itachi's imposter.

Kakashi sighed yet again. This was going to be quite the mission report.

Team 7 was in front of the largest rock they'd ever seen, stuffed right into an opening of what seemed to be a large cave.

"Classy. This is the fucking Akatsuki, and they set up shop in a cave instead of some big mansion, or at least a place with alcohol." Nero mused aloud. "Hmm. You think they have any alcohol in there?"

Sakura shook her head and sighed. "What are we waiting for, Kakashi-sensei?"

"We're waiting for team Gai." Kakashi explained. "Once they get here, we'll be able to act together and get into the base."

Nero strolled over to a nearby tree and slowly slid down until he was in a sitting position with his back against the trunk and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when they get there."

Naruto glared at him. "Hey, they have Gaara in there! We gotta be ready to get him out!"

"Won't do me any good if I'm tired. Besides, what else are we going to do? Your beloved Kakashi-sensei is already at the point where he's brought his smut out."

Kakashi looked up wearily from his book for a second, then continued to read.

'Christ, Neji, what's taking so long? I might have to take matters into my own hands.' Nero thought.

20 minutes later, the 4 members of team Gai finally showed up in front of the boulder.

"TEAM KAKASHI! Great to see you on this YOUTHFUL day!" The extremely loud voice of the spandex wearing Gai rang out through the area.

Nero slowly stood up from his sitting position and rubbed his ears. "Agh! I think I'm going deaf."

Another spandex wearing member of team Gai seemed to gravitate towards Sakura immediately. He stuck out his hand towards her and got on his knee, to Sakura's displeasure.

"Hello, beautiful Sakura-san!" His voice was nearly as loud as Gai's/

Sakura waved awkwardly and walked past his enthusiastic greeting towards Tenten and Neji. Lee looked disheartened.

"Does anyone here usual a normal speaking voice?" Nero joined the ninja with a frown on his face.

"Nero-kun! Nice to see you again!" Tenten said, smiling broadly.

One quick glance at Neji's slightly jealous face brought his reply without hesitation.

"Great to see you, Tenten. It's been a while, we should definitely catch up together after the mission." He winked at her and put on a smug smile.

Tenten blushed. "O-of course! I'd like that."

Neji glared. 'Man, I'm gonna kill him.'

Nero nodded his head shortly in Neji's direction, maintaining his smile and Neji replied with a simple and rather cold "Hello."

Kakashi nearly facepalmed. "Nero, this can wait till after the mission. We need to stop the Akatsuki before they kill Gaara."

'Too late.' Nero thought.

"Neji, use your Byakugan and see if they've laid any traps for us. I wouldn't expect this to be easy."

Neji nodded and walked forward. "Byakugan!" He looked around and spotted something, turning around. "There are seals that protect the barrier that have to be removed simultaneously. The barrier has to be destroyed 5 seconds after the seals are disarmed."

Kakashi thought for a moment. "Alright. Nero, you go with Tenten, Lee, and Neji. Wait for our contact."

Nero saw Neji look at him from the corner of his eye and Nero shook his head slightly.

"With all due respect Kakashi-sensei, I believe that if we work with our own squads, we will end up being stronger. We have more synergy and teamwork together, we can do things much faster."

Kakashi thought about this for a moment and nodded his head. "Gai, if that's alright?"

Gai laughed and gave Kakashi a thumbs up. "Of course we can handle this!"

"Alright, good."

Team Gai headed off and soon enough, everyone was in the right spot.

"Ok, remove the seals on 3. 1….2…..3!" Kakashi ordered.

Nero could feel the drain of power coming from the seals being destroyed.

"Now, Sakura!"

"Hai!"

Sakura leaped up and sent a punch towards the boulder, shattering it completely.

"Move in!"

"Hai!"

Team 7 rushed into the cave entrance, stopping at the arrival of two figures.

"These guys sure took their time, un." One voice said.

"You're quite impatient, Deidara. It shouldn't be a surprise to me now, it just irritates me." The other spoke now.

"Sasori-no danna, you don't understand! Things need to move fast and flashy! That's true art, un!" Deidara argued.

"Give us Gaara back!" Naruto yelled at them, but he was ignored.

"Art is eternal beauty! You're the one who doesn't understand." Sasori shot back.

Deidara scoffed. "Hm. Sounds boring, un." He threw a ball of white clay in the air that blew up in a puff of smoke, revealing a large bird of the same color. The bird had the body of Gaara on the back. Deidara hopped on the back of the bird and it rose in the air. "My art is a blast! I'm taking on the jinchuuriki, un. You can have the rest."

Before Sasori could respond, the bird lifted to the top of the cave with a laughing Deidara still on top. Nero and Deidara locked eyes for a second, then Deidara flew away.

"Idiot…" Sasori muttered.

Kakashi looked at his team. "Nero, Naruto. You come with me to get the Kazekage."

Nero shook his head. "I've fought that one before. You'll need more than me. I'll take on redhead over here with granny."

Kakashi, somehow feeling that Nero had more insight into this than any of them nodded. "Sakura, Naruto! Let's go!"

The three ninja ran out the cave after Deidara, leaving Nero and Chiyo alone facing the red headed Akatsuki member.

Nero smiled at Sasori. "It's been quite a while."

Chiyo looked puzzled, but one look from Nero told her not to interrupt

"How have you been, cutie? You still got that whole puppet thing going on, I see."

Sasori looked blankly at Nero. "Why did you stay here?"

Nero laughed and seemingly conjured a glass from nowhere into his hand, filled with amber liquid and a couple ice cubes. He took a long drink, draining half the glass. "Don't play dumb. Have you reconsidered my offer?"

Chiyo looked shocked. Sasori still held his blank expression.

"I'm still not sure what's in it for me. More importantly, I can't figure out what's in it for you." Sasori said.

Nero downed the rest of the glass and it disappeared out of his hand in a dark flame. "For starters, I know you like building and creating. You've single handedly crafted some of the greatest weapons and puppets that the shinobi world will ever know, and you can do even more. You'll have access to infinite resources, you'll have the best workshop in the world. You're a creator, and I want to help you."

Sasori chuckled.

"Secondly, the Akatsuki is going to burn by my hand. Your survival will be ensured if you join me."

Sasori looked skeptical. "I doubt you can complete that feat on your own. Plus, nothing is stopping me from telling my organization about your little plan."

Nero chuckled now. "I am. This is your biggest choice. Join me, or die. I already have one of you on my side."

"I have to decline."

Nero's face turned cold. "Unfortunate. Any particular reason?"

"I'll take it to my grave."

"I think that'll end up being a little more literal than you think." Nero said, smiling.

Sasori raised his arms and thousands of needles shot out towards Nero. Chiyo moved out of harm's way, and Nero seemed to dart around the room, moving faster than she'd ever seen. Sasori followed him closely, the needles dancing around Nero as he dashed around the room effortlessly. Finally, the barrage stopped.

Nero shook his head, stretching his arms in a sign of boredom.

"I wouldn't get so cocky now." Sasori smirked. He pointed towards a single needle protruding from Nero's left leg.

Nero blinked and pulled it out, dropping it to the ground.

Sasori's smile remained. "Did you forget who I am? The poison in my needles are deadly enough-"

Sasori was interrupted by a loud laugh coming from Nero. Chiyo and Sasori looked shocked at Nero, wondering if he'd really gone insane.

"Ahahahahahaha! I think you really forgot who I am. Your poison won't do shit to me."

Sasori still looked shocked.

"Now." Nero pulled out his katana. "It's time to cut your strings, you worthless marionette."

Sasori, though a bit shaken, still looked calm.

"Don't worry, your little puppet body won't be able to survive this."

Sasori's composure dropped. 'How did he know? W-who is he?'

"Y-you know?"

Nero laughed again, his eyes filling with glee. "That's right, you piece of trash. I know exactly where you don't wanna get hit. Enough talking though, let me show you the true art of fear."

He drew his sword back horizontally to his shoulder. "You took down The Third Kazekage, what a feat!" A black aura channeled through the blade of the sword. "Your own parents into marionettes, what a child!" Sasori's eyes filled with genuine terror. "All those humans that you made into your slaves, you ARE the true artist."

"WHO ARE YOU!?" Sasori was downright panicking.

Nero simply smiled and slashed his sword forward. A wave of black energy sped towards Sasori so fast he couldn't react. His screams could be heard as the wave duplicated hundreds, thousands, millions of times, and his body was shredded; only leaving the mutilated flesh of his 'Core' on the ground where he was just seconds ago.

'Who the hell is he?' Chiyo though, backing up from the boy in fear. 'He barely moved a muscle and he… he killed him- no, obliterated him.'

Nero turned to the older woman and smiled calmly.

"So this is why you chose me." Chiyo said, with a straight face.

"Hm?"

"So you can kill me now. No one would question if I died, so you can do what you wanted to Sasori without fear of me telling them."

Nero raised his eyebrows. "Your old brain is still working, impressive. However, I know a little bit more about you than you think. Your technique, Chiyo."

Chiyo's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"Yes. You can use it on Gaara, or die right here. Your choice."

Chiyo gave a small smile. "You really got me, eh? Why do you want him alive?"

Nero scoffed. "That doesn't concern you."

Chiyo thought for a moment. "Alright, I'll do it. I won't mention this to your team either."

"Why is that?" Nero looked puzzled.

Chiyo chuckled. "I've got more of a grudge on that village than you can imagine. Heh."

She walked away, with Nero following her.

The two joined the rest of their shinobi comrades just late enough to miss the action.

"Well, you handled this fine without us." Chiyo said.

"Chiyo-sama! Nero!" Sakura turned towards them.

"How is the Kazekage?" Chiyo feigned a concerned look Sakura's way.

"H-he's…" Sakura couldn't finish.

Chiyo glanced towards Nero and he nodded. He couldn't read the expression in her eyes. Was it sadness? Or relief?

"Can you take me to him?" She asked calmly.

"Sure…"

Nero walked past the two and joined Neji, Gai, and Tenten, who were standing around Kakashi, who was lying on the ground.

"What happened with you two?" Neji asked.

"Well, we killed Sasori." Nero said casually.

Gai and Kakashi looked utterly shocked. "What?" Kakashi uttered from the ground.

Nero suppressed a smirk at the injured ninja. "Chiyo did all of the work. He nearly knocked me out. I didn't expect him to be that strong."

Kakashi bought the lie. "Hm. Glad she handled it."

"What happened to this guy?" Nero pointed at the downed Kakashi.

"He tried to blow up himself up, but Kakashi transported him...somewhere."

'Kamui. Interesting.' Nero thought.

"G-guys!" Sakura's high pitched voice rang out.

The shinobi looked over in Sakura's direction and couldn't believe their eyes. The red headed ex-jinchuuriki had started to stir. He blinked, apparently his eyes hadn't adjusted yet because he winced a little. Then, he finally sat up.

Nero smirked. Damn, he was good.


End file.
